Later, in the “Honglian Immortal Venerable” instance, this peace-lock pendant saved my life! When I crawled out of the grave, I realized it wasn’t some cheap little trinket at all. It was clearly a lifesaving treasure!
When Tạ Đường saw the peace-lock pendant, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes. “Why do you have that?”
His gaze was as sharp as a knife as he turned it on me. “Did you steal it from her? What did you do to her?”
I hurried to explain. “You gave this to me… gave it to…”
That damn word “me” wouldn’t come out! I coughed violently; the system wouldn’t let me drop a hint that obvious. I struggled to get the whole thing out, until I coughed up blood.
As we struggled over it, a sweet voice called from the stairs. “Đường Đường, what are you two talking about?”
The comments started getting nosy:
[Oh no, Bảo Muội caught them in the act! She’s jealous!]
[Love the jealousy! I wanna see more!]
[God Tạ and Bảo Muội still haven’t confessed to each other. This NPC is the perfect catalyst~ Hehehe~]
What feelings?
My head was pounding. When he saw the fake show up, Tạ Đường’s expression softened, and he looked relieved, as if a weight had been lifted.
He pressed the peace-lock pendant into her hand. “You’re so careless. You dropped it and didn’t even notice.”
I wanted to snatch it back, but I couldn’t! Instinct urged me to summon storms and call down lightning. Defeating Tạ Đường or catching the fake would’ve been easy. But to keep my identity hidden, the system sealed my magic arts and left me with nothing but a useless embroidered ball!
It just wanted to see me suffer!
I sighed and decided to look for another opportunity.
Then my chance came! I had no idea what task the system had assigned, but around noon, the players went their separate ways, and Tạ Đường and the fake Lý Khả Ái temporarily parted. Tạ Đường went off alone.
There was a funeral-goods shop in Đăng Lung. The shopkeeper was a paper doll. She wore her hair in a flying-apsara bun, had rosy powder on her cheeks, and wore pointed shoes. She was sprawled across the counter, staring into space.
Tạ Đường set down a gold ingot. “I want three baskets of spirit money.”
The paper doll nodded blankly and went to fetch the goods. I stepped up beside the young man. “Young Master Tạ, shall I tell your fortune?”
The comments were annoyed:
[What’s with this NPC? Is she shameless or what?]
[Wherever God Tạ goes, she follows! So annoying!]
[Stalkers have no home!]
Tạ Đường turned me down cold. “Not interested.”
Throwing caution to the wind, I grabbed the young man’s hand. But instead of reading his palm, I looked straight into his eyes and said, each word clear and distinct, “Tạ Đường, your destiny is missing me.”
[Oh my God! Is she crazy!!!]
[What is that cheesy pickup line?]
[Gotta admit, that ghost bride has some nerve.]
[Every cell in God Tạ’s body is screaming “no,” and she still won’t leave him alone!]
[What does she think she’ll get by clinging to him? God Tạ is afraid Bảo Muội will get the wrong idea, so he’s been cold to the ghost bride and keeping as much distance as possible!]
The comments were right. Tạ Đường wouldn’t even look at me; his eyes were distant and cold. Could he really not understand?
“Your destiny is missing me” was something we’d said to each other before!
Back in the “Heart” instance, I’d worked hard to win him over so I could complete the task. But I was terrible at making conversation, and after stammering for ages, all I managed was, “Your destiny is missing me.”
Back then, the livestream viewers had mocked my awful attempt at flirting, saying they couldn’t stand it. I’d thought I was done for, too. Who could’ve guessed Tạ Đường wouldn’t think I was stupid—and would fall for it?
But the Tạ Đường in front of me acted as though he couldn’t hear a thing. All he wanted was to keep his distance.
I coaxed him. “You really don’t remember anything?”
The young man hadn’t wanted to give me the time of day, but when he heard my question, he suddenly turned around. A glimmer appeared in his eyes, his disgust faded, and he looked at me as if deep in thought.
I had to push a little further! I kept coaxing him. “Tạ Đường, that night the Celestial Master set the moon on fire. You went to save people, and I…”
Boom!
Before I could finish, a bolt of lightning struck me! I was stunned. Had that hint been too obvious? Well, of course—it was practically spelling it out. But how else was he supposed to recognize me!
Back then, in the “Jade Disk” instance, an evil Celestial Master used children as kindling and tried to burn the moon. In the crisis, Tạ Đường and I joined forces to overcome the challenge. He went to save the people, and I went to put out the fire.
But just now, before I could finish, lightning struck me. The system wouldn’t let me say it too plainly, and Tạ Đường still hadn’t recognized me! He was still suspicious, still unsure.
Hmph~ It hurts, sure, but I have to try one more time! Even lightning can’t shut me up!
“Tạ Đường! The fried eggs at the Consort’s Hotel are delicious. German is so hard to learn! The Confucian cultivators at the Confucian Hall are so unreasonable. The Top Scholar is so cold to his wife. Outside the pavilion, along the old path, we part—and meet again. And the button on your shirt… have you sewn it back on yet?”
Using veiled references, I recounted our past piece by piece. At the Consort’s Hotel, the food was poisoned, and eating the wrong thing meant death. Tạ Đường helped me pick out an uncontaminated fried egg. At the Vienna Castle, I couldn’t read the German letter, so he translated it for me line by line. In the cultivation instance, the Confucian cultivators at the Confucian Hall bullied me, and he stood up for me. In the old town, he became the Top Scholar and I became his wife, but he lost his memory and kept demanding a divorce.
And the first time we met… was in the “Class 253” instance, the first one I ever entered. He had silver hair and wore his baseball cap tilted to one side. He was so full of youthful brilliance, handsome as a boy straight out of a comic book. We both had clues, and I wanted to work together, but he was arrogant and aloof, and liked to work alone. After he flatly refused, I tugged at him and accidentally knocked a button off his uniform…
Boom!
Another bolt of lightning struck, harder than the last. The pain stole my breath.
The comments:
[Has the ghost bride gone crazy? What is she babbling about?]
[I seriously can’t stand how shameless she is!]
[@Lam San San: No, wait, that’s not right! Why do I feel like she’s hinting at something?]
[Which instance did Khả Ái and Đường Đường meet in again?]
[Aaaah, I can feel my brain growing…]
[Growing what? A brain full of romance?]
Thinking of the first time we met, I couldn’t help reciting a poem: “If only life were always as it was at first meeting, why would the autumn wind lament the painted fan? It’s so easy to change an old friend’s heart, yet people say an old friend’s heart is what changes so easily.”
[Too bad this horror game doesn’t let us rewatch anything, or I’d really want to see “Class 253” again. I heard that’s where the two of them met!]
[@Lam San San: Aaaah, you’re all making my head spin! I could’ve sworn something felt off just now!]
[Honestly, the ghost bride is kind of pitiful. She keeps rambling on about confessing her love and pursuing him, while God Tạ is plotting to kill her.]
[Right. The East District buys a bridal sedan chair, the West District buys a coffin, the South District buys the character for “joy,” and the North District buys spirit money. That’s the system’s mission~]
[What happens after we buy them?]
[A wedding and a funeral at the same time!]
[At the same time?]
[Exactly. Have you seen Lam Ching-ying’s zombie movies? They’re classics! There’s a scene where a wedding procession and a funeral procession run into each other, with the bridal sedan chair facing off against the coffin. It’s both eerie and magnificent!]
[Cut the chatter. I’m asking what the player’s plotting. I went out to grab some food and missed that part.]
[Oh, the system gave a hint: if you want to kill Peach-Blossom Face, knives and axes won’t do any good. The player has to perform a ritual and sacrifice her to the evil god!]
[The things they bought are for preparing the sacrificial ritual.]
Oh? You want to sacrifice me?
Tạ Đường didn’t recognize me. It’s infuriating!
If he said those words to me, I’d recognize him right away.
Tạ Đường, you idiot!